The Annual Black History Month Movies

MOONLIGHT 

DRAMA

                                                                                                                  

PLOT:  A black young boy grows up in a ghetto neighborhood.

                The movie is broken down into three parts first chapter, when Chiron is a young boy and is bullied because he is little and has to deal with his drug addict mother.  Second chapter, he is a teen and realizes he is not straight but still shy and still bullied.  Third chapter he is a well-built, chain-wearing gangster who is still has gay feelings.  The acting is amazing!  Most of the actors are unknown except for Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage, Hidden Figures), Naomie Harris (Monypenny in the latest James Bond movies) and Janelle Monae (Hidden Figures).  The film ask the  question is how tough it is to be a man, then a black man and on top of that being a gay black man.

HIDDEN FIGURES-2017

HISTORICAL DRAMA

PLOT:  The true story of three African American women who assisted NASA with the space missions in the 60s.

                All the science ladies Katherine G Johnson (Tarji Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) are brilliant mathematicians who help NASA get astronaut John Glenn into space.  It is a feel good movie with black women in the leads overcoming racism and sexism.  It is also a chick flick, true story with lots of humor and heart.  The movie is worth watching to see African American women than the usual stereotypes and all the acting is very, very good. 

FENCES - 2016

DRAMA

PLOT: The movie adaption of the play of the same name by August Wilson.

                Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) works as a garbage collector in the fifties.  His dream was to be a baseball player but he got too old to play.  He is married to his loyal wife Rose (Viola Davis) who deals with his drinking and plays ref between him and his son who wanted to play football.    It was rumored that Eddie Murphy in the 90’s when he was popular.  It was worth the wait for ALL the performances were excellent.  Not only did Washington star in the film he directed as well.

Songs of Spies and Assassins

SING

ANIMATION

PLOT:  Talking animals enter a singing contest with hilarious results.

                                                                                                                                   

         Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) owns a theater and he has hit hard times so he decides to have a singing contest like American Idol and the lucky ones have problems of their own. The voice cast includes Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane and Scarlett Johansson. It is a great musical, the characters are cute and it is funny and heartfelt.  A MUST for all ages. 

ALLIED

ROMANTIC/ THRILLER

PLOT:  Two spies fall in love but should they.

      Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) is an agent for the US and he goes to Casablanca to meet another spy, French Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard) in World War II.  They pretend to be married to assassinate an important German Ambassador.  They really do fall in love and Max takes her back to the states to marry and they have a child. He finds out something that can tear their family apart.  The film is very slow and sober and when there is action it is brief but intense.  The two leads are good.  It wasn’t promoted very much because of Brad Pitt’s messy divorce so if you blink you would miss it.  If you like old-fashion romance suspense you will like it. 

ASSASSIN'S CREED

ACTION/SCI-FI

PLOT:  Another popular video game made into a film.

     

      Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) is a criminal and drifter.  Assuming he died but transferred in a facility that has a device, Amimus that regress memories and in his past life he is Agular who is in a secret society that protects The Apple of Eden which eliminates free will.  Whew!  Are you still with me?  The best part of the movie is the action which is fast and furious. If you play video games you may not like it but for those who don’t play the games might not like it either for there is a lot of material that is hard to believe.  Video games to movies must be hard to make for so many fail at the box office.  Many fans thought this movie would be a financial and fans would enjoy it but not this one.

     

Heroes, Real and Imagined

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE

ACTION/FANTASY

PLOT:  The prequel to the most popular franchise in the world Star Wars: A New Hope.

                “We can be heroes” sings the late David Bowie and this is the film that proves it.  It tells how Princess Leia got the plans for the Death Star.  The movie has different nationalities and robots trying to save people from the evil Darth Vader and Grand Tarkin.  There are many Star Wars references.  The film is made for Star Wars fans.  It has action, humor and heart.  It is directed by Gareth Edwards, the same director who did Godzilla 2014.  He did an excellent job on this film.  Godzilla was good but it wasn’t this!  It is an amazing addition to the Star Wars movies.

HACKSAW RIDGE

HISTORICAL DRAMA

PLOT:  The incredible true story of WWII Army Medic Desmond T. Doss who refused to kill people won The Medal of Honor.

                Desmond T. Doss (Andrew Garfield, Amazing Spiderman) who believes in God and loved his country he went to war in WWII but never killed the enemy but saved his fellow soldiers.  I have never seen a movie about war and faith in God in the same film in a long time.  The acting which including Garfiled, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, Teresa Palmer and Vince Vaughn are nothing short of brilliant.  The battle scenes are violent to show how bad war truly is.  It is an Oscar contender for sure.  Mel Gibson directed it and Hollywood doesn’t like Gibson right now but the actor is many things but he can sure direct!

BASTILLE DAY aka THE TAKE

ACTION/THRILLER

PLOT:  An unpredictable CIA agent and a pick pocket to stop a terrorist group.

                Sean (Idris Elba), a CIA agent and Michael (Richard Madden), a thief unwillingly join forces to stop terrorists on Bastille Day which is like our Independence Day in Paris.  The movie has plenty of action and a buddy flick. Idris Elba is great as a loose cannon operative who is usually right. The film was cancelled in France because of the real attacks.  It is a pity for it is very good if you like action-packed movies.

Miscellaneous Creature Features

MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN

MYSTERY/FANTASY

PLOT:  Young man by his grandfather finds an amazing world of kids with superpowers.

                Jake (Asa Butterfield, Ender’s Game) is a teen who doesn’t fit in the modern world but through events starting with his grandfather Abe(Terence Stamp) goes into a loop where he finds Miss Peregrine(Eva Green, 300: Rise of an Empire) and her small group of  children with amazing powers.  It is a wild ride!  The movie was based on a popular book and directed by Fantasy King himself Tim Burton.  It is worth watching if you read the book or want to see supernatural kids that are not related to a comic book.

STORKS

ANIMATED/FANTASY

PLOT:  Storks don’t deliver babies any more but packages like Amazon.

                Junior (Adam Samberg) wants to be the boss but his boss tells him he must fire a human, cute but clumsy girl Tulip (Kate Crown).  Junior places in the area where they use to deliver babies and you can image what happens.  The voice actors are great –even Samberg!  It has humor, heart like many animated movies of late. The animated films at time are better than live action!  It is definitely worth watching.

GODZILLA RESURGENCE

SCI-FI

PLOT:  The famous giant monster is rebooted yet again.

                Toho, the company that makes Godzilla movies constantly gives their “cash monster” out to Hollywood and when they do a poor job or make money they make one of their own.  This version of Godzilla is very well made and it has endless, endless and endless meetings how to stop the giant beast.  When Godzilla is on screen he is AMAZING!  He has new powers and he is the most realistic Godzilla EVER!  No man in a suit-CGI.  See this film if you are a Godzilla fan but you can wait, please wait for video.

Fantastic Fall Fantasy Arrivals

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

FANTASY

PLOT:  In 1926 a young man captures magical creatures from all over the world.

                Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything, Jupiter Rising) is a collector of mythical animals and stops in New York and things go astray beginning an adventure.  This film is FANTASTIC!  It is funny, sad, and romantic and the beasts are amazing.  It is written by JK Rowlings who wrote the Harry Potter books.  If you like Harry Potter you will enjoy this character Newt.  It is wonderful for ALL ages.

TROLLS

ANIMATED/FANTASY/MUSICAL

PLOT:  A Troll princess must save her friends.

                Poppy (Anna Kendrick, Pitch Perfect) is a princess and the happiest of Trolls but the scary Bergens must eat trolls to be happy so the evil Chef ( Christine Baranski) captures some so Poppy and the unhappiest of Trolls Branch (Justin Timberlake) go on a journey. It is a very cheerful movie kids and adults will enjoy it.

ARRIVAL 2016

SCI-FI/DRAMA

PLOT: Twelve spaceships land on earth and a special squad must find out what it wants.

                Louise Banks (Amy Adams), linguistics (languages) and an elite force must try to understand the aliens and figure out what they want.  It is not an invasion movie and there is not much action.  It is not Independence Day: Resurgence so don’t expect that!  Amy Adams is a very good actress and she is very good in this film.  The film is based on short story but not by an American sci-fi writer but Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life.” The movie is cerebral and very serious but if you want to see a different sci-fi film this is it!